Fishing with Explosives
Yemen’s fisheries sector increasingly has contributed to its food supplies and security, with an estimated 70 percent of fresh and canned fish caught annually going for domestic consumption. The per capita average increased from 6 kilograms in 2002 to 9 kilograms in 2004. Although well below international levels, this per capita average has reduced red meat imports.
The fisheries sector provided more than 315,000 jobs in 2004, compared to only 100,000 in 1990. This significant sector employs approximately 65 thousand people and 250,000 others in related activities such as marketing and selling fish.
Yemen’s fisheries workforce represents approximately 3.5 percent of its overall economically active population, supporting some 1.7 million dependents, or 8.6 percent of the nation’s total population.
Fishing pirates
Fish resources, marine organisms and fish fauna at numerous points along the Yemeni coasts of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea are wasted, destroyed and looted, thus jeopardizing the country’s fisheries.
Available information indicates that at least 60 active multinational fishing vessels, some of which are unlicensed, are operating in Yemeni waters. Not only do they fish a mere 25 kilometers off the Yemeni coast, they use explosives to force fish outside their habitats.
